Chewing It Over

An infant will happily take any object
Metal, wood or plastic, mineral, vegetable, and perhaps
most worryingly,
animal
And successfully place it
between its curious gums
Until it concludes that
what is in its mouth is, indeed,
in its mouth.
An adult will find this funny,
There is no foreseeable conclusion
worth knowing from this,
and that is funny
But the baby never stops.
Eventually, a baby will find not only that
the object in its mouth is, indeed,
in its mouth,
but the object - that is, indeed,
in its mouth -
is edible.
The adult’s scepticism of the baby’s tedious repetition,
falters swiftly with a single proven result.
The baby used what little it had
and found
food,
a fundamental conclusion.